Nadella Unveils 200k+ Copilot Licenses With Indian IT Giants

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella told audiences in Bengaluru this week that four Indian IT giants will deepen their work with the company by rolling out Microsoft Copilot and other “agentic AI” tools across their workforces. Microsoft says this could become one of the biggest enterprise deployments of its generative AI products in services-led tech. Nadella’s announcement, made during Microsoft’s AI Tour stop in Bengaluru on December 11, 2025, links India’s fast-growing developer base to a wave of workplace automation that is already reshaping cross-border hiring and project staffing.

Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro said they will integrate Copilot into day-to-day work across functions from software delivery to HR and customer support, as clients press for quicker turnaround and lower costs. People inside the sector say large rollouts can also change who gets sent abroad and which skills win visas for Indian engineers and families.

What Microsoft Copilot and “agentic AI” mean for work

Microsoft Copilot, launched in November 2023, is built into Microsoft 365 and other business software. It uses large language models to:

• draft text
• summarize documents
• pull data into reports
• suggest next steps in workflows

Microsoft frames Copilot as more than faster writing: a new way for teams to search and act on company information without switching apps. In India, the four firms plan to push Copilot into delivery teams, finance, sales, and global client support desks.

The focus on “agentic AI” goes further — describing systems that can take actions on a user’s behalf after reading context, such as:

• booking meetings
• opening tickets
• preparing code changes for review

For immigration lawyers who track tech work patterns, that shift matters because it often changes job titles, seniority, and where work is performed — especially when clients demand on-site teams in the United States 🇺🇸.

Nadella’s India tour and the strategic message

During his December 2025 India visit, Nadella used a multi-city schedule to promote this vision:

• Microsoft’s AI Tour held an event on December 8, 2025 in Mumbai
• It moved to New Delhi on December 10, where Nadella spoke on “Leading in the New Age of AI”
• He then delivered a keynote titled “BecomingFrontier” and demoed an AI app in Bengaluru on December 11, 2025

Nadella urged companies to treat AI as core infrastructure, similar to how cloud services became essential over the past decade. He also highlighted India’s growing role in software creation, noting the country is the largest source of new GitHub developers and is projected to lead globally by 2030.

For the Indian IT services model — built on large teams and global delivery centers — the partnerships signal Microsoft wants its tools embedded at scale, not tested in small pilots. That pitch resonated as clients asked for quick AI results.

Microsoft’s broader India commitments

The Copilot push sits alongside a much bigger promise from Microsoft to India:

• US$17.5 billion in cloud and AI infrastructure and expanded operations in India through 2026–2029 — called the largest investment by any tech company in Asia.
• Doubling of skilling goals to 20 million people by 2030.

Microsoft is tying workforce training to India’s ambition to supply talent domestically and overseas. One government-facing partnership is with the Ministry of Labour & Employment to add AI features to the National Career Service and eShram platforms, which cover 310 million informal workers.

Anjali Rawat, a deputy director general in the ministry, has pointed to AI as a tool to help informal workers find better matches and training — a point Microsoft highlighted during the tour. For migrants, these numbers indicate long-term hiring plans.

Visa implications and immigration context

For Indian engineers eyeing jobs abroad, a key question is whether the shift to AI tools will change visa demand.

Cognizant, Infosys, TCS and Wipro have long been among the best-known sponsors of H‑1B specialty occupation visas, the main U.S. work visa used by tech consultancies. The law still requires a U.S. employer to file a petition and show a job that normally needs a bachelor’s degree or higher; the filing is made on Form I-129, which is posted on USCIS. The official overview of the H‑1B program is on USCIS’s H-1B page.

While Nadella did not discuss visa numbers, large Copilot rollouts often come with new staffing maps, and clients may ask for more AI-skilled workers onshore in the United States 🇺🇸. Immigration attorneys say that can mean increased requests for:

• AI engineers
• Prompt specialists
• Cloud security staff

These roles may be needed to meet contract deadlines this year.

Students commonly follow the same market signals. International graduates in computer science or data fields often enter on F‑1 student visas and then work through Optional Practical Training (OPT). The spread of Copilot through Indian outsourcing and consulting teams means recruiters may start screening for hands-on experience with Microsoft’s tools, not just theoretical knowledge.

Many students complete Form DS‑160, the online nonimmigrant visa application on the State Department’s system at CEAC. Though visa rules themselves have not changed, students who can show real projects using Copilot-style workflows may appear more job-ready to employers deciding whom to sponsor in a tight market after graduation.

Effects on Non‑Resident Indians (NRIs) and onshore managers

NRIs working in tech abroad may experience the shift differently. Many sit between clients and offshore delivery centers, translating business needs into system changes and supervising offshore work.

If Copilot and agentic AI reduce time spent on routine writing and documentation, managers may:

• raise expectations for higher-value work (planning, risk review, client-facing communication)
• open leadership paths for some
• increase pressure on workers whose visa status ties them to a single employer

According to analysis by VisaVerge.com, the common stress point is timing: companies expand AI offerings quickly, then scramble to staff U.S. client sites within fixed visa windows and contract start dates. In that context, prior exposure to Microsoft Copilot can become a simple filter — similar to how cloud certifications functioned a decade ago for promotions.

Adoption metrics and economics cited by Microsoft

Microsoft has used adoption data to argue Copilot is moving from experiment to standard tool. Key figures Microsoft announced include:

• 8 million paying Copilot subscribers as of August 2025
• a 1.8% conversion rate from 440 million Microsoft 365 users
• Fortune 500 use at 60–70%, with 85% of those users applying it to operations
• 77–78% of users reporting a 10–15% productivity lift (Microsoft-backed studies)
• reported returns of $3.70 for every $1 invested, rising to $10 for leaders
• a pricing example: $21 per seat for Microsoft 365 Copilot Business through a cloud solution provider

For Indian IT giants, those numbers serve as marketing ammunition in client meetings. Yet the same research notes adoption can stall: only 5% of customers moved from pilots to large-scale use, despite Windows integration in 2025.

Scale questions and license counts

One question hanging over the Bengaluru announcement is scale. Early descriptions said the four firms would together deploy more than 200,000 Copilot licenses, with each company rolling out over 50,000 seats. If accurate, that would be a significant, visible change inside services organizations.

However:

• No exact “200,000+” total has been confirmed in public documents so far.
• The final count could shift as contracts, renewals, and client projects change.
• Large consultancies often buy software in phases — starting with managers and developers on high-visibility accounts, then expanding access as teams learn to use prompts safely with client data.

Microsoft has been pushing these deals partly because it needs proof that generative AI can move beyond pilots and into everyday work at scale. Nadella’s India swing emphasized that same message.

Key takeaway: employers will keep chasing people who show both domain experience and AI tool fluency, while immigration paperwork and visa rules continue to determine where talent can move.

Practical guidance for workers and employers

For workers thinking about cross-border moves, the practical implications are:

1. Employers will continue to seek candidates who combine domain expertise with hands-on AI tool experience.
2. Visa requirements remain unchanged: duties, education, and salary levels still must be documented in filings.
3. Compliance matters: companies must set rules on what client data can be fed into AI systems because confidentiality and export controls carry legal penalties.

This compliance angle can create extra demand for:

• privacy engineers
• security leads
• project managers who can explain controls to auditors abroad

Nadella’s bet, made in front of India’s IT giants, is that the next wave of services work will be sold as “AI inside” rather than “people inside,” and that this shift will follow talent wherever visas allow it to go.